A Short, Sharp Shock

Rating:
Summary: A complex book, but NOT difficult or bad fiction!
Review: "A Short Sharp Shock" is a complex book, but it isn't as difficult to understand as some reviewers have made out. This novel is a story about a man and his journey to rediscover his past and the identity of a girl; a common enough theme. This strange world and the characters inhabiting it are painstakingly constructed by Kim Stanley Robinson to explore thoughts on chaos, dreams, memory, history, and love. Basically, what is it that makes us human? Pay special attention to the different creation myths told over various campfires throughout the book; since the author "created" the world, these myths explain what he was trying to accomplish with this novel.

Throughout the novel the reader is asked what makes us human and what makes us unique individuals? Is it our genetic make up? Our dreams? Our memories? Our biochemical construction? Our capacity to love? And, interestingly, is it our connection to the past, to our ancestors?

I finished this book in a day but I thought the novel was just long enough for Kim Stanley Robinson to cover all the points he wanted to, especially when you consider how intricately detailed each scene is described. If it were longer one could get bored, and his intent wasn't to create a rich fantasy world to escape to and to explore, but to create a world in which to explore questions of existentialism. There are, however, a number of inconsistencies in the narrative, I would be interested in finding out if they are deliberate literary devices or oversights stemming from impatience in going to press.

Rating:
Summary: Mysterious, captivating, and ultimately mind-boggling...
Review: "A Short, Sharp Shock" is quite different from any of Robinson's novels, or for that matter from any of his short stories that I remember. It's as good as anything else he's written, but in a totally different direction.

Robinson creates a world of mythology, of peculiar yet compelling visions. The story can only be said to be elliptical, orbiting far out into mysterious lands and lives, before hurtling back to its starting point in a particularly thought-provoking way. If all this sounds vague and atmospheric, I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of book that can be described by simply condensing its plot.

That plot focuses on an amnesiac character who finds himself abruptly thrust into a peculiar world, a thin strip of land surrounded by an untravelled ocean. As he travels along through this evocative landscape, he interacts with a cast of memorable persons most of whom are not clearly friends nor enemies, but all of whom provoke some kind of response in the protagonist (and in the reader). The meaning of this journey starts out simple -- a search for someone who might be his partner, and who was kidnapped by a band of local thugs -- and with every page, it becomes more complex. By the end, the journey has become a metaphorical strand tying together cosmology, love and hate, cultural diversity, parallel universes, the unrecoverable loss of memories, and I don't know what all else.

No review can adequately describe this story; it's too complicated and yet too simple. I *wholeheartedly* recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A complex book, but NOT difficult or bad fiction!
Review: "A Short Sharp Shock" is a complex book, but it isn't as difficult to understand as some reviewers have made out. This novel is a story about a man and his journey to rediscover his past and the identity of a girl; a common enough theme. This strange world and the characters inhabiting it are painstakingly constructed by Kim Stanley Robinson to explore thoughts on chaos, dreams, memory, history, and love. Basically, what is it that makes us human? Pay special attention to the different creation myths told over various campfires throughout the book; since the author "created" the world, these myths explain what he was trying to accomplish with this novel.

Throughout the novel the reader is asked what makes us human and what makes us unique individuals? Is it our genetic make up? Our dreams? Our memories? Our biochemical construction? Our capacity to love? And, interestingly, is it our connection to the past, to our ancestors?

I finished this book in a day but I thought the novel was just long enough for Kim Stanley Robinson to cover all the points he wanted to, especially when you consider how intricately detailed each scene is described. If it were longer one could get bored, and his intent wasn't to create a rich fantasy world to escape to and to explore, but to create a world in which to explore questions of existentialism. There are, however, a number of inconsistencies in the narrative, I would be interested in finding out if they are deliberate literary devices or oversights stemming from impatience in going to press.

Rating:
Summary: A complex book, but NOT difficult or bad fiction!
Review: "A Short Sharp Shock" is a complex book, but it isn't as difficult to understand as some reviewers have made out. This novel is a story about a man and his journey to rediscover his past and the identity of a girl; a common enough theme. This strange world and the characters inhabiting it are painstakingly constructed by Kim Stanley Robinson to explore thoughts on chaos, dreams, memory, history, and love. Basically, what is it that makes us human? Pay special attention to the different creation myths told over various campfires throughout the book; since the author "created" the world, these myths explain what he was trying to accomplish with this novel.

Throughout the novel the reader is asked what makes us human and what makes us unique individuals? Is it our genetic make up? Our dreams? Our memories? Our biochemical construction? Our capacity to love? And, interestingly, is it our connection to the past, to our ancestors?

I finished this book in a day but I thought the novel was just long enough for Kim Stanley Robinson to cover all the points he wanted to, especially when you consider how intricately detailed each scene is described. If it were longer one could get bored, and his intent wasn't to create a rich fantasy world to escape to and to explore, but to create a world in which to explore questions of existentialism. There are, however, a number of inconsistencies in the narrative, I would be interested in finding out if they are deliberate literary devices or oversights stemming from impatience in going to press.

Rating:
Summary: Mysterious, captivating, and ultimately mind-boggling...
Review: "A Short, Sharp Shock" is quite different from any of Robinson's novels, or for that matter from any of his short stories that I remember. It's as good as anything else he's written, but in a totally different direction.

Robinson creates a world of mythology, of peculiar yet compelling visions. The story can only be said to be elliptical, orbiting far out into mysterious lands and lives, before hurtling back to its starting point in a particularly thought-provoking way. If all this sounds vague and atmospheric, I'm sorry, but this is not the kind of book that can be described by simply condensing its plot.

That plot focuses on an amnesiac character who finds himself abruptly thrust into a peculiar world, a thin strip of land surrounded by an untravelled ocean. As he travels along through this evocative landscape, he interacts with a cast of memorable persons most of whom are not clearly friends nor enemies, but all of whom provoke some kind of response in the protagonist (and in the reader). The meaning of this journey starts out simple -- a search for someone who might be his partner, and who was kidnapped by a band of local thugs -- and with every page, it becomes more complex. By the end, the journey has become a metaphorical strand tying together cosmology, love and hate, cultural diversity, parallel universes, the unrecoverable loss of memories, and I don't know what all else.

No review can adequately describe this story; it's too complicated and yet too simple. I *wholeheartedly* recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: what to say? what to say?
Review: As is typical after reading a work by KSR, I find it nearly impossible to decide what to think. In "A Short, Sharp Shock" I definitely found the lack of a recognizable plot or sane sense of purpose somewhat disconcerting. But on the other hand, it was that same character of disconcerting that comes from reading unfamiliar Asian poetry (something like erotic poems of ancient India would do it). That is to say, it was a nice sort of disconcerting (I think).

The allusion to poetry definitely applies here, since this book shines with that poetic and metaphoric language so characteristic of KSR and the best of science fiction (and perhaps all fiction) writers. Judged on the poetic/artistic aspect alone, "A Short, Sharp, Shock" would be a nigh-perfect 5.9--as can be imagined simply by reading the title. If you love poetry, you will probably like this book.

As far as Sci-Fi is concerned (my primary interest in KSR), this work falls well away from the norm. (That is, if you belive there is a norm in Sci-Fi). In doing so, it both draws me in and repels me. Nowhere do I see the spaceships or the laser/plasma/photon weapons. There are no swash-buckling Han Solos and no quirky robotic side-kicks. There is no foibling of a master plot to rule or destroy the universe. There is just this pair of lost characters trying desperately to find out where they got lost. "Where's the Sci-Fi in that?" I scream. But then there's so much strangeness and such an essence of otherworldliness pervading this book that I have to love the fiction in it, I have to love the mystery, and yes, I even have to love the fragments of science engendering this whole tiny universe KSR creates.

In the end, all I can say is, What an amazing book! What a disappointing book! What a book! Maybe you can decide for me. Probably not, but it's worth a shot. And don't let it turn you off to KSR, the rest of his stuff is as different from this as everything else is.

Rating:
Summary: what to say? what to say?
Review: As is typical after reading a work by KSR, I find it nearly impossible to decide what to think. In "A Short, Sharp Shock" I definitely found the lack of a recognizable plot or sane sense of purpose somewhat disconcerting. But on the other hand, it was that same character of disconcerting that comes from reading unfamiliar Asian poetry (something like erotic poems of ancient India would do it). That is to say, it was a nice sort of disconcerting (I think).

The allusion to poetry definitely applies here, since this book shines with that poetic and metaphoric language so characteristic of KSR and the best of science fiction (and perhaps all fiction) writers. Judged on the poetic/artistic aspect alone, "A Short, Sharp, Shock" would be a nigh-perfect 5.9--as can be imagined simply by reading the title. If you love poetry, you will probably like this book.

As far as Sci-Fi is concerned (my primary interest in KSR), this work falls well away from the norm. (That is, if you belive there is a norm in Sci-Fi). In doing so, it both draws me in and repels me. Nowhere do I see the spaceships or the laser/plasma/photon weapons. There are no swash-buckling Han Solos and no quirky robotic side-kicks. There is no foibling of a master plot to rule or destroy the universe. There is just this pair of lost characters trying desperately to find out where they got lost. "Where's the Sci-Fi in that?" I scream. But then there's so much strangeness and such an essence of otherworldliness pervading this book that I have to love the fiction in it, I have to love the mystery, and yes, I even have to love the fragments of science engendering this whole tiny universe KSR creates.

In the end, all I can say is, What an amazing book! What a disappointing book! What a book! Maybe you can decide for me. Probably not, but it's worth a shot. And don't let it turn you off to KSR, the rest of his stuff is as different from this as everything else is.

Rating:
Summary: What the ...?
Review: i don't know know what the fuss around robinson's books. i read the back page of the bookk in the store and it sound interesting, of course there was an exelent recomendation from the new york times, so i thought - here is sci-fi book that worth reading. so i went home and start reading, it turned out that it's sort of fantasy book, actually not a novel by size maybee, mabbee a novelle, that wa pumped into novel size by adding chapter hedings and empty pages, the story did start nice, but didn't developed the pure plot was totaly exeptable, boy loose girl, find her in the next 2 pages looses her again find her again, the basic mistery around the heroes never answerd the side-heros didn't have any dimentions at all, they were just in the background, and never explain their behaviour. the end was so unclear, and by this time i lost interest at all. seems that the writer had some ideas, but didn't know what to do with them. for conclusion typical writing to modern sci-fi writer - i guess he now working on series of un-ending sequals for this book. waste of money - go byesome of the old and good SCI-FI books.

Rating:
Summary: A Short Sharp Shock - i wasted my money on this book
Review: i don't know know what the fuss around robinson's books. i read the back page of the bookk in the store and it sound interesting, of course there was an exelent recomendation from the new york times, so i thought - here is sci-fi book that worth reading. so i went home and start reading, it turned out that it's sort of fantasy book, actually not a novel by size maybee, mabbee a novelle, that wa pumped into novel size by adding chapter hedings and empty pages, the story did start nice, but didn't developed the pure plot was totaly exeptable, boy loose girl, find her in the next 2 pages looses her again find her again, the basic mistery around the heroes never answerd the side-heros didn't have any dimentions at all, they were just in the background, and never explain their behaviour. the end was so unclear, and by this time i lost interest at all. seems that the writer had some ideas, but didn't know what to do with them. for conclusion typical writing to modern sci-fi writer - i guess he now working on series of un-ending sequals for this book. waste of money - go byesome of the old and good SCI-FI books.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I find this a deeply atmospherical novel in the best tradition of Fantasy. What seems to be a picaresque fairy tale is an allegory on human life. You come into existence, get a name, have your good and bad experiences on a life-long hike until you jump into the unknown again. This novel is not only for Fantasy readers, everybody can read it with its delightful, unobtrusive imagery and strange, but fascinating setting and people.